The Historyof the Ikalahan of Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan Philippines
The Ikalahan were not literate until a few years ago so they have no written records from which a history could be researched. They were not conquered by the Spaniards who knew very little and wrote less about them.
In 1953, Emilio Tolentino, with the help of Dr. Gregorio Zaide, wrote a history of Aritao. Their data was gleaned from the records of the Spanish friars and short manuscripts composed by some of the old-time residents of Aritao. Castillo Tidang, then mayor of Kayapa, composed a brief history from the recollections of various tribal elders in 1956. It was published in the fiesta souvenir program of that year. Dr. Patricia Afable located a small amount of written material and summarized it in her doctoral dissertation for Yale University in 1990. Dr. Ronald Himes prepared a glotto-chronology of the Southern Cordillera languages, including the “Kallahan,” and in 1984 Dr. William Henry Scott published a revision of his earlier book on Pre-hispanic Source Materials. These contain a small amount of information about the Ikalahan. Fr. Juan Villaverde, O.P., may have contacted the Ikalahan in the late 1800s but there is no reference to them in his extant writings. There are no references to the Ikalahan, Kalanguya or Kadasan in the 54 volume collection of Philippine History prepared by Blair and Robertson in 1903. (B&R)
This report depends primarily on oral literature: Folk tales, rituals and music. Wherever possible they were checked against the available written records mentioned above and found to be accurate. Using everything possible I have reconstructed much of the tribal history and continue to update it from time-to-time as new information is obtained. Although some minor details in this presentation may not be final, the broad outlines are now clear.
We can only go back to the 14th century when a small population of hunters, probably less than 300 people, lived in a high valley surrounded by pine and mossy forests. Many forms of wildlife refreshed themselves at the abundant springs and occasionally provided fresh meat for the people. They usually grew their staple food, taro, in small ponds, called “bineng.” (T142/2) They balanced their diet with wild and cultivated vegetables from the slopes and flora and fauna from the Agno River, which rushed through the center of the valley.
We don’t know what they called themselves but for lack of a better term, we now call them Proto-benguet. The five sitios they occupied are now beneath the waters behind the Ambuclao and Binga dams that are named for two of them. The other three were Banaw, Owak and Baloy (Afable).
Their life was comfortable but the valley was small and population pressures pushed them to search for other places to live. One portion decided very early to move downstream to the sources of salt. The “I” prefix in their language, as in the ancient Ilocano language, indicated “native of.” The present Tagalog and Ilocano languages use the prefix “taga-” for the same purpose. Those who moved downstream, therefore, were first known as Ipangasinan, “the people of the salt beds” (T067/13, T133/8, T184,T285). Later the “I” was dropped and they became known as Pangasinan.
Chinese and Japanese merchants frequented the Pangasinan coasts but they were not a threat, they merely opened up new economic opportunities that the Ipangasinan were happy to entertain (T285). There is even a Chinese record of a commercial delegation from Pangasinan to China as early as 1406 (Scott, 75).
When the Spaniards arrived, however, the Ipangasinan quickly recognized that they were not mere merchants. They intended to conquer so the Ipangasinan fought them for a time. One folk story indicates that they first took their wives and children back to their ancestral home beyond Binga before they fought (T285/6). Apparently, however, after several skirmishes, both sides settled down to a tenuous peace (T078/11).
Some of the Proto-benguet people who remained in the valley then moved further upstream into fairly level and open areas that were suitable for taro production. Such areas are known as “napawey” so those people became known as the “Ipawey.” (T067/15, T078/5)
Another migration went west from the sitio Baloy (named for a tree common to the area) so their descendents are still known as Ibaloy. One of the many communities that they established was in a mossy (bagiw) pine forest. Somehow the spelling was later changed to resemble the Ilocano term for a typhoon. That community is now known as Baguio City. Their language remained very similar to the language of the Ipaway and modern literature does not distinguish between them.
Another group felt that the flat lands would be too boring so they continued up into the mossy oak forests known to them as “Kaadasan,” or “Kadasan”. They were thus known as the “Ikadasan,” but like the Ipangasinan, their speech soon changed enough to become a new language. (T067/17, T078/5) They eventually became known as Ikalahan or Kalahan. The anthropological and linguistic literature usually spells their name as “Kallahan.” (Afable)
Still another portion of the Proto-benguet tribe moved due east, stopping first in the area east of what is now Bobok and then moving further southeast into the broad Kapaya basin. There was nothing distinctive about their geography but most of them had come from the sitio known as Owak, named for a bird common to the area, so they became known as the I-owak or I-wak people. During the last decade of the 20th century, however, they made many contacts with lowland peoples who could not pronounce the glottal stop in their tribal name. The name is now often written and pronounced Iwak, even by the I-wak people, themselves.
For many decades the Ialagot tribe, who were apparently related to the Aeta people, lived in what is now northeastern Pangasinan (Dominican Report, B&R, 32/201) southwest of Kayapa (T077/1). Another tribe, the Ibomangi, occupied Kayapa and some areas north of it (T026). Tolentino refers to them simply as ‘Igorot’ (Tolentino 3) and they may be the same as the Ipuyopoy. One of the Ibomangi leaders, a man named Mengal, was finally convinced to surrender to the Spanish Friars in 1767. When he did, he moved his people to Ahanas, a village on the present site of Aritao (Tolentino 1). This, of course, reduced the population in the highlands and in the Kayapa valley. It was probably some time later when the Ialogot and the remaining Ibomangi, had a confrontation. Folk stories indicate that one of these two tribes bought the Kayapa basin from the other. The stories conflict but apparently one of the tribes violated the agreement causing a tribal war (T095/1, T112/7). Many were killed on both sides leaving space for the I-wak who began arriving about that time (T095). Both the Ialagot and the mountain Ibomangi persistently fought the Spaniards who responded in kind. During the subsequent century most of them were killed. The survivors were too few to maintain their population, culture and identity so they joined the I-wak tribe. Nothing else is now known of their ancestry or history (T235). Their only memorial is the town of Natividad in Pangasinan which was so named because of the high population of “Natives,” probably Ialagot (T096/2).
Parenthetically, my friend, Dr. H. Otley Beyer, the father of Philippine anthropology, thought he found the oldest Philippine rice terraces in the Kayapa Valley. He was mistaken. He found terraces but they were bineng for growing taro and had probably been built by the Ibomangi before rice was cultivated in the area. Rice terraces, in their languages, are called “payaw.” The payaw in Kayapa are all relatively recent, but a payaw and a bineng look very similar (T108/6).
During the succeeding century, the Ipaway and many of the Ikalahan were introduced to rice and camote cultivation. (Ipomoea batatas). The rice fields near Kabayan and Adaway were developed at that time by the Ipaway and some rice fields were also developed by the Ikalahan in the Tinek area just north of the peak of Mount Poleg. The camote, of course, are produced on the slopes.
The Spaniards never conquered the Ipaway, I-wak or Ikalahan. The Ibaloy to the west, however, had begun exploiting several gold mines that the invaders coveted. They could not wrest control from the persistent Ibaloy, however, until the population had been reduced to less than 50% by wars and smallpox epidemics that the invaders intentionally introduced. Biological warfare is not a recent invention. It has been around for centuries.
In the middle of the 19th century an unnamed European in Natobleng, Benguet, made a major impact on the history of Northern Luzon. The stories do not agree as to whether he was British or Spanish but he captured an Ikalahan girl from Palateng who had gone there to work in the gardens. He raped her, probably several times, before she finally escaped and returned home. She was pregnant, however, with his child whom she later named Hamiklay (T130/24, T248).
Understandably, Hamiklay grew up to be “an angry young man” but he apparently had leadership abilities. He organized the men of his own village, and a few from the nearby village of Ahin, to become bandits and they quickly began plundering neighboring villages (T229/4, T248).
Most of the existing reports and stories suggest that the Ikalahan of Palateng had inter-married with the Bontoc and had accepted some of the Bontoc customs which were more war-like than the Ikalahan farther south. (T214) The Bontocs often take heads to revenge crimes. Like the Ikalahan, they would occasionally take a human head for use in a healing ceremony. Hamiklay and his men, however, used their headhunting skills for kidnapping, cattle rustling and common banditry. They were often known as the “Bongkilaw” (T185) meaning “terrorists,” or simply “Bohol,” meaning “enemy” (T127/9, T280}. The Kankana-ey of Loo, which is at the bottom of the mountain below Palateng, apparently picked up a common Ikalahan expression and referred to them as “Kalangotan” which literally means “What is that?” and is often used to scold people (T269) or express surprised disgust. The Kanakana-ey used it as a tribal name for the Bongkilaw of Paleteng.
It should be made clear, at this point, that ritual headhunting was a common practice for most, probably all, of the Philippine tribes, both upland and lowland. Most headhunting, however, was limited to ritual purposes. Hamiklay and his men were unique in that they used headhunting for banditry.
The Ipaway, by that time, were primarily sedentary farmers and lived close together. They quickly learned to cooperate and successfully repulsed the Bongkilaw raids (T067/2). On one occasion a group of women captured several of them and drown them, probably in the river near Kabayan (T130/23). On another occasion the Ipawey captured several Bongkilaw and turned them over to the Spanish garrison in San Fernando, La Union (T280/4). This will be mentioned later.
The Bongkilaw apparently decided not to raid the Bontok people to the north, possibly because of kinship. In fact, the Bontoks did their share of headhunting in the Loo Valley and other areas west of the Kalahan area (T228/5). They made a pact with another group of raiders headed by a man known as Palking (the club). The latter raided the eastern edge of Ifugao and the areas south of it leaving Tinek and the other nearby areas to Hamiklay and his gang.
Meanwhile, the Ikalahan in the Tinek area had cleared camote (sweet potato) fields and built both payaw and bineng. They had also made irrigation systems and strong houses for themselves. The women were responsible for the agriculture. The men cared for their children and hunted for wild meat. If the dogs were hot on the trail of a deer, a wild boar or some other animal during a hunting trip, every nerve in an Ikalahan man’s body told him to follow the barking dogs and spear the prey. Fields and family were temporarily ignored. (T042/1)
The Ikalahan of Tinek occasionally took heads also, of course, but only for ritual purposes and the rituals, known collectively as the Hagawhaw, were very elaborate (T234). They did not take heads for fun or for commercial purposes, however, like the Bongkilaw (T067/11, T127/11).
The Ikalahan rituals and customs make it clear that their primary desire was, and is, for “Li-teng” (H205, T065, T070, T071). There is no good English, Greek, Latin or Ilocano equivalent for the Ikalahan word. The ancient Hebrews, however, had a word for it, “shalom.” It is best translated into English as “Abundant Life” although the Greeks usually translated it inadequately as “peace.”
The Ikalahan people preferred the remoteness and abundant food supplies of the forests to ensure their li-teng. They lived in small, scattered communities of only 3 to 5 houses so they were not able to develop an effective system for protecting their families from the Bongkilaw. Because of that, the Bongkilaw seriously threatened their Li-teng in Tinek. The Ikalahan finally took action --- they left (T066/3, T116/2, T229). Their irrigation systems, bineng, payaw, houses and everything else that could not be carried were simply abandoned so they could escape the ever-present danger of Bongkilaw raids (T091/11, T133/4, T229/4).
The Bongkilaw had attacked them from the north so the Ikalahan moved south. Some of them, led by Layo, Matong and Bagilat (T109/6) moved only as far as Binalian but others moved farther south. Here another very interesting folk story explains an important part of their history.
Even though the I-wak were distant relatives of the Ikalahan, they did not want Ikalahan living in their territory. Ikalahan hunters would occasionally follow their dogs into I-wak territory but were expected to leave as soon as they captured their prey. When two Ikalahan hunters, Gomangan and Adpoyoh, followed their dogs into the Kayapa valley, however, they found a grieving woman. Her daughter had just been kidnapped by a group of Ialagot and was likely to be sacrificed. The woman could not follow them personally but the brothers followed the trail of the kidnappers. They rescued the girl, whose name was Kaliih, and, in gratitude, the I-wak invited the Ikalahan to come to live near them. (T077/2, T078/2, T091/20, T096/2, T170/2, T301)
The Bongkilaw problem was apparently at its peak when Gomangan and Adpoyoh returned to Tinek. When they told the story of their adventure, nearly all of the families in Tinek decided to accept the invitation. (T067/3,11) Most of them, however, moved past the Kayapa valley and, led by Kalhi (T091/2) and Maayno (T091/12), established Alang in the kalahan forests on the northern slopes of Mount Akbob where they planted camote and raised pigs.
As the Ikalahan population beside Mount Akbob increased, some of them moved further south onto the western slopes, now known as Malico and Salacsac. At least one family, Kambilad, probably Ibomangi, was already living there and they were joined later by at least one Kankana-ey family that left Loo to escape the Bontok headhunters (T228). Some of them finally moved southeast into the yangyangan (depression)(T095) which now includes the Barangays of Pacalbo, Imugan, Baracbac and Onib. As they cultivated their small fields they frequently discovered remnants of old taro fields (bineng) and other signs of the previous inhabitants, the Ialagot (T091/23). The extensive areas to the east were their new hunting grounds. They had left the Bongkilaw behind and found the Li-teng that they were longing for. (T066/3, T091/2, T127/9, T185/2, T228/3)
A few of the Ikalahan settled down in Pampang (now Kayapa Central) before they reached the Kayapa valley. Their descendents, however, later sold their lands in Pampang to Ipawey settlers who followed them (T067/15) and followed the other Ikalahan further south.
Meanwhile, the Bongkilaw continued cattle rustling and kidnapping until the last decade of the 19th century (T108/2). One of the girls they kidnapped was sold to someone in Bontok for a pistol. Over a decade later she was discovered by her relatives and returned (T127/10). It also seems that a younger half-brother of Hamiklay felt the need to escape from the family home to avoid the vengeance of Hamiklay. He may have become a resident of Karaw.
There is a report indicating that when the people of Kabayan captured some of the Bongkilaw and turned them over to the Spanish governor, the Spaniards decided to teach the Bongkilaw of Palateng a lesson by burning down their village. The survivors of that razing apparently ran to Ahin for safety (T280). Ahin became over-populated as a result.
The Ikalahan houses and fields in Tinek, of course, had been left vacant. It was not long before hunters from Ahin, including surviving Bongkilaw and their relatives, discovered the abandoned farms and moved in (T133/4, T214/3, T229/3). Some of them apparently moved beyond Tinek into the northern part of what is now Kayapa (T106/3). Their former nickname “kalangotan” changed to “kalangoya” meaning “What is this?” Although it was not as distinctive as the old name, Ikalahan, it was better than the other term, Bongkilaw, and is still used as a tribal name by the people of the northern area. The people of Kiangan, however, still refer to the Ikalahan as “Imakayew.” Which literally means “natives of the forest” (T269, T276),” as does the term “Ikalahan.”
Hamiklay was finally chased down and shot in Atok near the turn of the century. (T067, T127/11, T214/4, T280/1, Afable 134)
When I began my study of Ikalahan history and culture more than 35 years ago, the people of Yangyangan said that their ancestors left Tinek to escape problems. One even mentioned violence but he did not name the Bongkilaw or give any details. They consistently used the tribal name “Kalahan” (T235/2) or “Ikalahan” (T077/1). When I asked Amyaw, one of the most respected elders and ritual leaders about “Kalongaya” as a tribal name he rejected it vehemently (T136/6).
When we interviewed elders in Tinek they said that their ancestors had come from Ahin and that the spirits of heaven had built houses and fields for them in Tinek. They did not know very much about the people in Yangyangan although they knew that they spoke the same language. It was confusing, to say the least (T142). Others have had the same frustration (T230).
The situation finally cleared up when Ipaway Elders, whom we interviewed in Kabayan, told us about the Bongkilaw. An Ikalahan elder far to the east, in Dupax, and I-wak elders near Yangyangan, gave us more information. It seems that the people who were directly involved were concerned about their personal relations and felt that telling the whole truth to their descendents might damage those relationships. The I-wak and Ibaloy had no such qualms. (T067/2, T108/1)
Most of the modern day descendents of the Bongkilaw are completely unaware of the violent activities of their ancestors. Most of the modern day descendents of the Ikalahan who migrated south are also unaware of the reason for the migration. It is probably just as well. They are now friends and in order to enjoy Li-teng it is necessary for all of them to remain friends.
The search for Li-teng had not ended, however.
Occasionally the tribal elders around Mount Akbob --- Ikih, Gohmol, Botyog and the others --- dealt with problems inside their communities. Whenever a controversy threatened to erupt, they immediately worked to accomplish justice quickly and openly without leaving bad feelings (e.g., T143, T145, T302, T303) A look at the Ikalahan word madonong (meaning “righteous”) is instructive at this point. A person who is aware of a crime but does not report it is not madonong. Everyone must be involved in maintaining li-teng.
Relationships between the Ikalahan people and the people of Kiangan have usually been peaceful but tense except for one unfortunate and violent episode about the same time as the Bongkilaw (T076, T229/3). This may have provided additional motivation for them to move south, farther from Kiangan.
At least one community that frequently took I-wak and Ikalahan heads spoke the Kiangan, Ifugao, language (T108/2, T107/3). Intermarriage, however, (T004, T005, T223) reduced the tensions. Many Ikalahan rituals came from Kiangan, (e.g., T028, T030, T031, T036, T040, T042).
The Americans tried to establish schools for the Ikalahan and even recruited students by force (T116/10). A few children attended but many parents refused permission and even hid their children when the teacher came to visit. They knew that the schools intended to change culture and that would damage, or even destroy, the li-teng which they had struggled so hard to achieve (T228/9).
The next threat to their li-teng occurred in about 1948 when foresters of the newly independent Philippine Government informed Ikalahan leaders that they were squatters in government forests and should leave. They could not and would not leave, of course. There was no longer any place for them to go but the threat was like a festering sore that would not heal and there seemed to be no one who could treat it.
Because of that threat, and also because of population pressures, individual families moved out into the hunting grounds to the east as far as Salazar in Nueva Ecija (e.g., T116/2) and even farther into the Sierra Madre.
Finally in 1969 they learned of another threat to their li-teng, this one potentially fatal. A court in San Nicolas, Pangasinan, gave two lowland politicians titles to nearly 200 hectares of Ikalahan ancestral lands in Malico and Salacsac. The President of the Philippines planned to turn those lands, and more than 6,000 hectares more, into a summer resort for his cronies. Ikalahan leaders such as Amyaw, Pacio, Bilyahih, Inway and Makoy learned of it and knew that the threat was serious. Rather than resort to violence, however, they sought legal help and fought the battle in the courts. The titles were finally cancelled because of fraud and perjury but the Ikalahan still did not have legal rights for themselves.
That began the long battle to legalize their own rights. It was finally accomplished through a negotiated contract, Memorandum of Agreement #1, (MOA #1) which was signed on May 14, 1974. It recognized their legal rights to nearly 15,000 hectares of their ancestral domain in exchange for protection of the watershed. That was a good start but they had to do more than that to restore the li-teng they desired.
They had allowed their forests to deteriorate during the previous two decades so they began to restore them. They brought the wild fires under control and new forests regenerated naturally. Some of the areas needed help so they planted trees. They propagated other plants to protect riverbanks and agricultural lands from eroding. They knew that a healthy environment was a part of li-teng.
Their efforts were not unnoticed, of course. Several other communities of Indigenous Peoples wanted similar contracts for themselves and the government was forced to admit that the Indigenous People could and would protect and develop the natural resources if they were given the legal right to do so. Memorandum of Agreement #1 became the precedent for the government’s huge social forestry program and the related program of recognizing the ancestral domains of Indigenous Peoples within the Philippines.
*The author is a Pastor, Engineer and Anthropologist who, with his family, has been residing with the Ikalahan since 1965. He can be contacted in Imugan, Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya or at
This paper was originally presented to the ADHIKA ng Pilipinas Conference, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, 27-30 November 2002 but subsequently edited by the author.
Numbers in Parenthesis refer to testimonies, dialogues, folk stories and rituals in the author’s collection.
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